Funding can be used to invest in infrastructure to support building more homes
NEWS February 26, 2024
BRANTFORD — Today, Rob Flack, Associate Minister of Housing, announced Ontario is providing the City of Brantford with $3,066,849 in funding through the Building Faster Fund after the city exceeded its 2023 housing target. Brantford broke ground on a total of 788 new housing units last year, unlocking an additional $400,182 by exceeding their 2023 target by 8 per cent.
“Our government is making historic investments in infrastructure to give municipalities the tools they need to ensure that every resident has an affordable place to call home,” said Rob Flack, Associate Minister of Housing. “The City of Brantford and all other municipalities that have met or exceeded their housing targets should be proud of the work they have done to get shovels in the ground faster.”
Announced in August 2023, the Building Faster Fund is a three-year, $1.2 billion program that is designed to encourage municipalities to address the housing supply crisis. The fund rewards municipalities that make significant progress against their targets by providing funding for housing-enabling and community-enabling infrastructure. Funding is provided to municipalities that have reached at least 80 per cent of their provincially assigned housing target for the year with increased funding for municipalities that exceed their target.
“Brantford continues to grow at an unprecedented rate and we’re grateful to all those who contribute to the development and investment in our community. We appreciate the Provincial Building Faster Funding, which will allow our city to sustain its expansion and our community to continue to grow, while also remaining a welcoming community, that is a truly incredible place to live, work and play, and learn.”
— Kevin Davis, Mayor of the City of Brantford
In the coming weeks, the province will announce Building Faster Fund rewards for all municipalities that met, exceeded or achieved 80 per cent of their assigned housing targets in 2023. Any unspent funding will be made available for housing-enabling infrastructure to all municipalities, including those that have already received funding as a result of reaching their targets, through an application process. In addition, ten per cent – or $120 million – of the Building Faster Fund is being set aside for small, rural and northern municipalities to help build housing-enabling infrastructure and prioritize projects that speed up the increase of housing supply.
“I am thankful every single day for the incredible working relationship that we have with the City of Brantford. With the support of these provincial funds, our community will sustain its expansion while creating new job opportunities and business growth. The City of Brantford is ideally located near the United States border and the GTHA markets and with the help of the City of Brantford, Council and residents, we will continue to be the best place to live, work, raise a family and grow in Ontario.”
— Will Bouma, MPP for Brantford-Brant
QUICK FACTS
- New housing starts, new and upgraded long-term care beds, and additional residential units created by renovating or converting existing residential and non-residential buildings are all being considered when calculating if a municipality has reached its housing target.
- In 2023, Ontario reached 99 per cent of its target of 110,000 new homes, which includes housing starts, additional residential units, and new and upgraded long-term care beds.
- Ontario broke ground on 18,992 rental starts in 2023, the highest number of rental starts on record.
- The province saw nearly 10,000 additional residential units created in 2023 – which includes changing single family homes into multi-unit residences or converting commercial office space into residential use – and nearly 10,000 new and upgraded long-term care beds.
- Ontario has introduced significant investments in municipalities to support housing-enabling infrastructure, including $200 million over three years for the Housing-Enabling Water Systems Fund and the $400 million annual Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- Tracking Housing Supply Progress
- Ontario Launches Building Faster Fund and Expands Strong Mayor Powers
- Background: Municipal Housing Targets and Building Faster Fund
MEDIA CONTACTS Michael Ramnanan Communications Branch | ontario.ca/news Disponible en français |